G.R. No. L-5710
LEONARDO OSORIO, plaintiff-appellant, vs. MARIANO TRIAS, defendant-appellee.
August 29, 1910

FACTS:
Leonardo Osorio and Mariano Trias were candidates for Governor of Cavite in the 1907 election. Osorio won, but Trias filed an election protest. The Court of First Instance (CFI) ruled in favor of Osorio and charged Trias with the costs. In the taxation of costs, Osorio sought to include P2,212 for attorney’s fees and expenses, in addition to P62 for actual court expenses. The CFI judge, however, denied the recovery of attorney’s fees and expenses, allowing only the P62 actual court expenses. Osorio appealed this decision.

ISSUE:
Can attorney’s fees and expenses incurred by a party be taxed as costs against the adverse party in the Court of First Instance?

RULING:
No. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s decision, holding that attorney’s fees and related expenses cannot be taxed as costs against the adverse party in the Court of First Instance.

The Court cited Section 492 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which regulates costs in the CFI and does not include attorney’s fees. Furthermore, Section 489 of the Code of Procedure in Civil Action explicitly provides that “No lawyer’s fees shall be taxed as costs against the adverse party except as herein specially provided.” The only special provision within said code, Section 494, allowed for the collection of an attorney’s fee of P40, but this was only applicable in the Supreme Court, not the Court of First Instance. Therefore, there being no legal provision for the recovery of attorney’s fees and expenses as costs in the CFI, Osorio’s claim for P2,212 was properly denied.